1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control panel assembly for controlling a microwave oven.
2 Description of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave oven is a device for cooking food by using microwaves. A body of the microwave oven has a chamber formed on one side thereof for receiving food to be cooked, and microwave generating means disposed on the other side thereof for generating and radiating microwaves into the food in the chamber. Further, a control panel assembly is formed on the front side of the body. The control panel assembly has a plurality of buttons for controlling the operation of the microwave oven and for selecting various functions of the microwave oven.
The control panel assembly includes a front panel section having a plurality of function buttons arranged thereon for selecting various functions of the microwave oven, and a main board having a circuit for controlling the microwave oven to perform the selected function. The plurality of function buttons include an operation button, a cooking time setting dial, a cooking mode selecting button, and a cooking function selecting button, etc.
Meanwhile, as the functions of improved microwave ovens become diversified, more function buttons are required. Although the most important consideration is the convenience in manipulating the function buttons, considering the fact that there is growing number of appearance-conscious consumers, the function button arrangement which is not only easy to manipulate but also designed to improve the appearance of the microwave oven is needed.
In order to meet the above demand of current consumers, the trend has changed from the arrangement of many single-functional buttons on the front panel section toward the arrangement of a few multi-functional buttons. By using the multi-functional buttons, the number of functional buttons can be significantly reduced compared to using the single-functional buttons, and the appearance of the microwave oven can be simple. Here, the term "multi-functional button" means a button by which a user can select a plurality of functions of the microwave oven. For example, a user may select a first function of the microwave oven by pressing the multi-functional button once, and a second function by pressing the multi-functional button once again, etc. In accordance with the number of times the multi-functional button is pressed, the respective functions of the microwave oven can not be selected.
The control panel assembly of the microwave oven employing multi-functional buttons has the advantage of a neater appearance, however, the multi-functional buttons have a shortcoming in that they are difficult to use and users who are accustomed to single-functional buttons avoid buying such a microwave oven.
The control panel assembly employing single-functional buttons has the superiority to a control panel assembly employing multi-functional buttons in view of convenience of manipulation, however, the same has the disadvantage of a very complex-looking appearance due to the need of many functional buttons. Accordingly, consumers who are appearance-conscious avoid buying such a microwave oven.
Accordingly, there is a stronger demand for a functional button arrangement that would satisfy both demands of the consumers.